


My Gay Jungle Fever

by typicrobots



Category: Scrubs (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-03
Updated: 2006-11-03
Packaged: 2018-06-05 01:05:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6683266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/typicrobots/pseuds/typicrobots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elliot cocks her head. "No, that's why you want him to be your mentor. You want him to like you because you're a man-child who's spent his entire adult life with Turk, but now that he's found Carla, you're looking to Dr. Cox to fill that void in your life by making him your new best-friend-slash-possible-homosexual-life-partner." Damn, JD thinks, she's right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Gay Jungle Fever

JD has had two gay encounters in his entire life, a number Dr. Cox questions and calls too low. "Don't be so modest, Lillian. You being the prettiest girl at the ball, suitors must be lined up around the block."  
  
JD's not sure why he offered that piece of information up to Dr. Cox. What Dr. Cox would never know, though, is that both times were with the same person. Each time it happened, they swore it would never happen again, but history has a tendency to repeat itself and JD has never been one to learn from his mistakes.  
  
  
_one_  
  
The first time was on his first night of college. JD was in the middle of tucking in his Journey sheets when he looked up and saw an afro bobbing around behind his stacks of boxes. JD shot straight up and introduced himself as JD. John Dorian. JD. He was still deciding on what he wanted people at college to call him.  
  
"Turk," his roommate answered, did a complicated handshake JD couldn't quite keep up with.  
  
"Cool name," JD said.  
  
They got drunk that night. JD had beer for the first time and found that it was too bitter for him; he vowed to find a drink better suited to his taste. They sang Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" at the top of their lungs and rock-star jumped off their desks while air guitaring in unison.  
  
Turk was awesome. He was confident and black and had cool hair, all the things JD wished he could be. That night they ended up in JD's bed together because they had started drinking a little too early, before Turk had finished unpacking, and by the end of the night he was too drunk to find his sheets or pillow.  
  
JD asked if this wasn't a little gay. Turk said sleeping with their backs against each other would solve that problem, but their asses ended up touching and to JD that didn't seem any less incriminating. He flipped over so that he was facing Turk's back and settled himself in to fall asleep, when suddenly he felt the whole bed shift. JD opened his eyes to find Turk face-to-face with him, bleary-eyed and breathing heavy. The room was too hot, the bed too small all of a sudden. Turk's lips touched his.  
  
This was exactly how JD imagined his first college kiss, except instead of a large, black man, he envisioned a limber blonde sorority girl, possibly a gymnast. But JD was far from home and missed his old room, his brother, even his mom and her stupid fiancé. The people here were meaner than what JD was used to, making fun of his slight Midwestern accent and Pat Benatar posters. Turk had promised to watch his back, right before they did their _Miami Vice_ impressions, and JD wanted badly to hug him, maybe even kiss him.  
  
They passed out like that, their faces close, their bodies curled into each other's spaces – touching but not touching. When JD woke up the next morning, Turk was already up and digging through his boxes, unpacking hair products. He said good morning brightly and asked if he wanted waffles or pancakes for breakfast, and JD was confident that he knew Turk well enough by now to see that he didn't remember anything from the night before.  
  
They never talked about it again.  
  
  
_two_  
  
The second time was at the end of med school, at a graduation party that JD can barely remember now. Someone had left out a tray of brownies, and JD – lured by their chocolate-y deliciousness – scarfed down three before Turk came up behind him and knocked the fourth one out of his hand.  
  
"Dude!" JD yelped, his mouth still half-full. It came out more like "Mrrd!"  
  
Turk had to explain that those were the special brownies, and JD made a pained face; they both knew this was going to end badly. JD spent the rest of the night in the bathroom, wanting to throw up but not being able to, and Turk stayed by his side. JD kept yelling that his head was detaching from his body, and not in that good way like Floating Head Med Student.  
  
"Man, I finally got that fine honey Taneeka to notice my kickin' bod," Turk said. "Now I'm stuck in here, babysitting your scrawny ass."  
  
"Taneeka sounds like Teeny, if you take out the A and the K and put the N after the E and replace the A with a Y," JD said from inside the toilet bowl. "Teeny was the name of my safety blanket."  
  
"What do you mean 'was'?" Turk said. "You sleep with Teeny every night."  
  
Turk lifted JD out of the toilet, saying he was taking him home. JD hung off of Turk's arm like a limp rag doll.  
  
"Everything's going to change," JD said into Turk's armpit. The bathroom tiles felt cold through his socks. He wondered where his shoes were. "Med school is over and you're going to be a surgeon and I'm going to be an internist and we're never going to see each other again. Chocolate Bear, I miss you."  
  
Turk didn't answer and instead moved them forward, towards the open bathroom door. JD stumbled and found himself caught between the doorframe and Turk's body. He looked up, feeling queasy and sad and frightened, and kissed Turk. Turk might have kissed back, JD might have even felt a hand on his ass, but it was over before he could make sure. JD opened his eyes to see Turk staring at the people outside, a drunken crowd too wrapped up in their own celebrations to notice what had just happened.  
  
Turk helped JD get on his feet again and half-carried him home that night, his hands staying strictly around JD's shoulders. It was as if nothing happened at all.  
  
  
_and a half_  
  
"Don't be so modest, Lillian. You being the prettiest girl at the ball, suitors must be lined up around the block." Dr. Cox hits JD on the arm with a patient's chart as he leaves.  
  
"I guess you heard all that," JD says to the supply cart to his right. Elliot steps out from behind it.  
  
"I don't care that you're gay," she says with a shrug. She blows her bangs out of her eyes.  
  
JD chooses to ignore that comment. "Why doesn't he like me?" JD asks, staring at Dr. Cox's billowing coat as he disappears down the corridor. JD can never win with him, yet he keeps trying. He vaguely recalls learning during his psych rotation that one of the signs of being crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time. Or maybe that was a fortune cookie. He doesn't really remember his psych rotation; the attending was pretty and wore tight sweaters.  
  
"I think the better question is," Elliot interrupts his fond sweater memory, "why do you need him to like you at all?"  
  
"Because my dad left me at a young age and I'm looking to Dr. Cox to fill that void in my life by making him into a father figure?" he answers automatically.  
  
Elliot cocks her head. "No, that's why you want him to be your mentor. You want him to like you because you're a man-child who's spent his entire adult life with Turk, but now that he's found Carla, you're looking to Dr. Cox to fill _that_ void in your life by making him your new best-friend-slash-possible-homosexual-life-partner."  
  
Elliot walks away triumphantly, trips over a stray cart, then scurries into a patient's room.  
  
Damn, JD thinks, she's right. He really wishes he paid attention during that psych rotation.  
  
That night JD gets home and the apartment is dark. It's been three nights since Turk proposed to Carla and she didn't answer but got on a plane instead. JD opens the bedroom door to find Turk still by the phone. He sits down next to him on the bed.  
  
"Want to play Pong?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Want to play Ultimate Ice Cream Foosball?"  
  
"No." Turk slouches, his head almost touching JD's shoulder. "I just want to get married, man."  
  
JD doesn't know what to say; that's the one thing he can't do for Turk. It used to be that JD knew exactly how to cheer up Turk – a _Sanford and Sons_ marathon, candied pancakes, Stairs Slip 'N Slide – but ever since Turk met Carla, JD has been feeling a little left behind. Suddenly they're expected to be grown up, and JD doesn't know how to keep up.  
  
"I know you do," JD says weakly. Turk's head comes the last inch to rest on JD's shoulder and JD leans in, his chin touching Turk's shiny smooth head. JD can't think of anything to say. For the first time in his life, he can't think of anything at all.  
  
"I need to be drunk." JD can feel Turk's head move against his shoulder as he speaks.  
  
"We used all our alcohol on our Booze Kiddie Pool."  
  
"That wasn't as fun as I thought it was gonna be."  
  
"No," JD agrees. "It burned my eyes."  
  
Turk sits up straight, jouncing the bed. "If I start crying, you're gonna pretend like you don't notice."  
  
"You got it, C-Bear." JD pauses, looks down at his hands. Things are changing, he can tell. He feels the same way he felt those other nights – on the verge of something and slightly panicked.  
  
"Do you remember that time I ate the special brownies and you had to take care of me?" JD says suddenly.  
  
Turk stares at him suspiciously. "Yeah."  
  
"Do you remember what happened afterward?"  
  
"Dude, we triple-pinkie-loop-de-loop-over-the-hedge-super-silence-secret swore we'd never talk about that again."  
  
JD nods, looks down at his hands again. "OK."  
  
He hears Turk sigh. "I remember, JD. I remember that night and I remember that first night too."  
  
JD looks up at him. Based on past experience, this would be about the time he kisses Turk. JD turns his face, leans into Turk but Turk doesn't move.  
  
"Stop, JD," Turk says instead. He shakes his head. "We gotta stop this. It's time to grow up, man. I can't be there for you forever."  
  
JD opens his eyes. He blinks. "Yeah," he says and pulls away. "Time to grow up."


End file.
